T20 World Cup’22, ZIM vs NED: Netherlands 120 for 5 (O’Dowd 52, Cooper 32, Ngarava 2-18, Muzarabani 2-23) beat Zimbabwe 117 (Raza 40, van Meekeren 3-29, de Leede 2-14) by five wickets

Firsts are often memorable, and the Netherlands made sure that their first Twenty20 International at the Adelaide Oval would be one to remember fondly. With a steady 52-run performance, their batting mainstay Max O’Dowd helped them through a small run chase against Zimbabwe and almost ended their chances of reaching the semifinals. O’Dowd exuded calmness. This occurred following a superb seam bowling performance by the Netherlands, led by Paul van Meekeren’s three-for, which resulted in Zimbabwe being bowled out for 117.

For Zimbabwe, only Sikandar Raza stood tall once more as their batters couldn’t keep up with the accurate fast bowling and gave in to the clever changes of pace they bowled. O’Dowd and Tom Cooper responded by putting together a 73-run partnership that prevented the Netherlands from losing early wickets in groups.

🇿🇼 go down to Netherlands 🇳🇱 by 5 wickets#ZIMvNED | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/4JVzTBo4Lr

— Zimbabwe Cricket (@ZimCricketv) November 2, 2022

Zimbabwe will be eliminated regardless of the outcome of the India-Bangladesh matchup, even though they mathematically still hold on.

HIGHLIGHTS

Seam, swing and all that

At the Adelaide Oval, the two colors that typically make for good viewing were on display: blue, sunny skies following a rainy buildup and an even layer of green grass on the surface. However, despite the fact that his teammates appeared content with what they had to do, Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine did not hesitate to bat first. It was clear why.

A left-arm bowler swung it into the right-hander (away from the left-hander).Then a seamstress with the right arm did the opposite. Van Meekeren scored the first blow in the subsequent over after Fred Klaassen came dangerously close to cutting Ervine off in the first over. Before casting Madhevere with a peach, he started with a misdirected inswinger to Ervine, who played with his left hand. Madhevere was rooted to the crease expecting an outswinger, but he got a full, straight ball on the middle that he missed flicking off for a bowl.

The time had come for Brandon Glover to arrive at the party. He started with five dots in a row, which caused Ervine to top-edge an attempted flick and Scott Edwards to make a good catch.In his next finished, Glover saw Regis Chakabva endure two possibilities – one when Bas de Leede neglected to grip on to a cut at in reverse point and afterward on the exceptionally next ball when Edwards grassed a guideline jumping get.

However, Chakabva, like Madhevere, lost the mental game against Glover because he was stuck in his crease expecting another outside off, only to be caught in front by a full, straight one in line with the stumps. As a direct consequence of this, Zimbabwe’s powerplay total was reduced to 20 for 3.

Raza, again

For the tenth time in recent games, it was up to Raza to save Zimbabwe.Before beginning a 14-run over off Glover, he was struck out for two overs upon his entry. To pepper his pull strokes, he targeted the short, square area on the leg side and used his might to smoke generally unhittable length balls over the bowler’s head. In Sean Williams, he found a partner, and together they won by 48 runs.

Raza didn’t slow down after Williams fell. He smoked two more sixes, one of which, again from Glover, made a sound you’d want to use for an alert on your phone. After the bowler had conceded just two runs in his first two overs and had taken two wickets, including a wicket-maiden, Raza scored 26 in all off the 11 balls he faced from Glover.

Zimbabwe lost their last five wickets for 25 and folded for 117 after Raza fell while attempting to take the longer long-on boundary off Bas de Leede, who had replaced him in the match against Pakistan due to a concussion.

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O’Dowd denies Zimbabwe

With his second half-century in the men’s T20 World Cup, O’Dowd improved his batting credentials. However, not everything went according to plan for him. He hit a four in each of Tendai Chatara’s three powerplay overs, but he only scored 14 runs out of the 18 balls he faced in the phase. Chatara’s outswingers frequently beat him on the outside edge, making it seem as though the phase was being played over and over again.

He truly made his presence known when he took a slower delivery from Richard Ngarava early in the powerplay and followed it up with a stunning inside-out six over extra cover from Sean Williams. Cooper’s alliance with O’Dowd had almost sealed the deal for Netherlands by that time, and he had gotten into a roll, probably knowing the conditions at Adelaide Oval like the back of his hand from stints on the Australian domestic circuit.

Cooper’s fall allowed Zimbabwe to pick up four wickets for 26 runs, but only 117 was never going to be enough.